by Willow Rose
"Well, if there is one thing I’ve learned over the years, it’s that life with you is never boring or even predictable, Emma."
"I'll drink to that," I said, and we clinked glasses.
Chapter Fifty-Nine
The drink knocked me out completely. Just like I had hoped it would. I fell asleep on the couch, and I guess Morten must have decided just to leave me there and go sleep in my bed since, when I woke up, I had a blanket on top of me, and I was all alone.
It took me a few seconds to remember what had happened, but once I did, a tear escaped my eye while thinking about the two boys who now had to go on without their dear mother. How would Daniel react? If he was anything like Victor, his world would completely crumble. For kids like him, it was vital that everything remain the way it always was. Changes could throw them completely off balance. And this certainly was a huge change.
I felt so terribly worried about the poor boy.
I sat up on the couch, looking out into the yard where the moon shone on the ocean behind the trees. The glistening snow reflected the moonshine and lit up the entire area. It looked beautiful, so incredibly peaceful.
It was while sitting there, looking outside, that I realized what had woken me up. It wasn't a dream or because I was worried. It was something else. There was a sound. The sound of dripping. Now, normally, you'd just think it was a faucet that wasn't closed properly, or maybe a leak, but I knew better by now. I remembered hearing the sound a few times before, and it scared me.
Whatever this creature was, was it coming for me next?
I took in a few deep breaths, then walked to the fireplace and grabbed a poker. With cautious steps, I walked to the downstairs bathroom and stood outside the door for a few seconds, wondering what to do next.
Then I opened the door.
I stared for a few seconds at what met me in there, not quite grasping what I was looking at.
"D-Daniel?"
I dropped the fire poker and rushed to him. He was sitting on the bathroom floor on his knees, looking at his hand.
"Oh, dear God, I am glad to see you," I said and sat next to him. "We’ve been looking everywhere for you. The police are probably still out there searching the entire island to find you, and you were here all the time?"
The boy looked up at me, and that was when I realized why he was looking at his hand so intently.
"D-Daniel? W-hat's wrong with your hand? What's happening to it?" I asked, startled.
His very clear blue eyes met mine. "I…I don't know."
It was like his hand had melted. Like it had…liquefied itself. And now it was…dripping onto my tiles?
What the heck?
"Daniel…A-are you…I mean, can you…" I stopped myself. I had no idea how to ask what I was about to ask. Fact was, I wondered if he was the creature, if he somehow was the one who had killed all those people, but somehow it didn't really fit. Why would he do that? He was nothing but a sweet young boy. Why would he kill his own mother?
He sniffled. "It happens sometimes," he said. "And not just to my hand. Also to my feet. One day it was my earlobe. It simply started to drip onto my shoulder."
"So, you can't control it?"
Maybe that was the answer. That he couldn't control himself when it happened? Could that be it? Maybe he didn’t know what he did?
Oh, God, did the boy kill his own mother without knowing it?
I reached out for the fire-poker and pulled it closer while staring at Daniel's hand. If he was about to turn liquid, turn into whatever this creature was, would I even stand a chance? Would my family?
It was while wondering about this that I heard the pipes groaning in the walls. The groans soon turned to banging, and I turned to look at the shower and particularly at the drain.
Chapter Sixty
I stared at the drain, paralyzed, my heart throbbing in my throat so hard I could hardly bear it. The pipes groaned and moaned, and something emerged from inside the drain, slithering its way through the small holes, emerging into my bathroom.
As the creature grew out of the water and rose up in front of me, I backed up, fire poker in my hand, protecting Daniel behind me.
A set of very blue eyes looked back at me from inside the water. It approached me, slithering its way quickly across the bathroom floor, and when it was close enough, I swung the fire poker with a loud cry.
"Stay away from the boy!"
Of course, the thing went straight through it. It was just like hitting water. Literally. The creature didn't even react, it just continued toward me, gushing at me, and soon I was completely soaked by a wave so hard it knocked me down. Water gushed into my eyes, my mouth and down my throat with such speed that I couldn't even react or move.
I wanted to yell at Daniel to run, to get out of there while he could, but it was impossible. Water was everywhere, and all I could see were the creature's eyes staring at me from somewhere inside of it, such deep anger and hatred in them. I didn't even see Daniel rise to his feet. But somewhere from outside of the thick pillar of water, I heard him yell a muffled cry.
"STOP!"
Much to my surprise, the creature did as he said. The water stopped gushing and was sucked back to where it had originated from, shaping the creature into what more and more looked like…a woman?
I coughed and threw up water, then looked up. The woman seemed to solidify herself and soon looked completely human.
"Mommy!" Daniel exclaimed. "You can't kill her. She didn't do anything. She's been good to me."
Mommy?
"Danny," the woman said, her voice still sounding like she was in water, but as she spoke more, the voice turned normal. "Are you okay?"
He nodded. The woman held out her arms, and the boy rushed into her embrace. They hugged while I got back to my feet, still coughing and still fighting the feeling of suffocation.
I sat on the top of the toilet and looked at the two of them. "So…if she's your mother, then who was Maria?"
The woman looked at me. "She took him from me."
"Maria did? Why?"
"Because of who he is and what he can do."
I sighed. "I don't understand. Could someone please explain?"
The woman looked at her son briefly, then kissed him. "It's okay, Mommy," Daniel said. "She's the good one. Remember, she took care of B-3? And she has been taking care of Victor."
"B-3, that's Skye, right? We call her Skye," I said. "You know her too?"
The woman nodded. "She escaped with me."
"Escaped?" I paused. "Let me guess. Omicon? That's the place with the cords, right? The place where no one can hear you scream?"
Daniel nodded. "I was born there."
"Maybe we should tell her the story from the beginning, huh?" the woman said.
I exhaled in relief. "Thank you. I'd appreciate that."
Chapter Sixty-One
"I came here in nineteen-eighty-two. Through the sewers, through your pipes," the woman who told me her name was Lyn—which meant waterfall— said. "I was found and pulled out of a toilet by a man. I was just a child back then."
"Through the sewers?" I asked, thinking about Samuel who had told us a similar story.
She nodded.
"Where did you come from?"
"A place very different than this. A place of war. My parents sent me through the tunnels to escape, to get to safety. It was believed that the tunnels led to a different world, one where you could live in peace, but most people thought it was just superstition. My parents believed. They wanted a better life for me. A lot of parents did the same. We were a flock who entered the tunnels and came here. Our parents would come later, they said. But they never did. Some drowned in the water, but many of us managed to survive. Some of us didn't end up in a better place. Instead, we were taken by men in black clothes and experimented on. I was pulled out of a toilet by a plumber and a nurse. Three others and I were. But when the nurse called for help, men came, and they killed the plumber. The entire building containing the restro
om where we had come through was closed off. They kept us there for years before they transported us somewhere else. To a building with no windows. I was placed in a room with no escape. The men and women did terrible things to us there."
"Sven Thomsen," I said. "Ann Mortensen, Hanne Carlsen, Maria Finnerup. They all worked there, didn't they?"
"They made me with child. Using human semen. Wanted to create a super-human, they said. For war. Soon, I gave birth to twins. A girl and a boy." Lyn's face darkened. She looked down at her son. "But as soon as the babies were born, they were taken from me. I could hear them scream for me at night. They did things to them. Unimaginable things. They wanted to see if the children were like me, but they weren't. But they kept pushing, kept putting them into water, holding them down, trying to force them to change, to be like me. One day, when the twins were eight, they told me my daughter…she didn't survive. They had killed her. Drowned her. They went too far, thinking if she stayed long enough underwater, she would change. But she didn't. She died. Drowned in that tank of theirs. I spent years in grief and anger, planning how to get back at them for what they had done. Recently, I managed to escape through the sewers one night when they were so careless that they forgot to plug the keyhole to the room they kept me in. I squeezed through it, then rushed for the restrooms. I swore I would stop them, stop what they were doing. I managed to take B-3 with me because she was in the room next door to me, and when she saw me rush out, she spoke to me in my mind, pleaded with me to take her too, but I lost her somehow once we got out. I had actually thought she died in the water because it was a very long swim for her. I went looking for Daniel, who was living with another family now, while they waited for his change to come. I’ve been keeping an eye on him, and on B-3 since I realized where she was, that she was here. I only did to those people what they did to my daughter. And now, all I want is to be with my son."
Lyn kissed his forehead, and Daniel closed his eyes. Then something happened as the two of them hugged. It was like they both turned to liquid and their two bodies became one. It lasted only for a few seconds, till they both returned to normal.
Lyn realized what had happened, then exhaled with a smile.
"Look, Mommy," Daniel said. "I am like you. Well…almost."
Lyn sighed and held her son close, a concerned look in her eyes.
"They will come for him," she said. "He can't survive in the water yet. It's still too new, and he might have too much human in him. We don't know yet."
She turned her head and looked at me. "Can he stay here? I’m looking for a way back to where we came from. When I find it, I'll come for him. But for now, I need a safe place for him to be. You have kept B-3 safe. You can do the same for my son."
My eyes grew wide. "I…I don't know."
Lyn grabbed my arm and squeezed it, her pleading eyes lingering on me. "Please. I have nowhere else to turn. I can't send him back to those people. The father in that family, he's part of it too. If they find out what he can do, what they have created, there is no telling what they'll do to him."
"I have his older brother, Alex, sleeping upstairs," I said.
"Don't let him see Daniel. Don't tell the father or anyone else. Keep him hidden till I come back. I am certain I will find it soon. If there is a way into this world, there must be a way out."
I swallowed, feeling slight anxiety growing, thinking about the men I had faced earlier in the night. But how could I say no to a mother who wanted to keep her son safe?
"All right," I said. "But the killings must stop. They might deserve it, but it solves nothing, Lyn."
"Deal."
Lyn reached out her hand, and I grabbed it. It felt normal at first but then turned wobbly as she slowly turned to liquid and soon was nothing but a puddle. The puddle then moved toward the drain where it disappeared down the holes.
"Mommy!" Daniel said and rushed toward the shower.
"She'll be back, Daniel," I said and put my arm around his shoulder. "You heard her. She'll be back for you."
Chapter Sixty-Two
She let Alex sleep in her room. She knew he wasn't supposed to, but he had been so out of it, she thought it was for the best. Finally, he had fallen asleep after crying in her arms for hours, but Maya was still wide awake. She couldn't let go of all the emotions, all the thoughts rushing through her mind. What the heck had she seen tonight? What was that thing that had almost killed her and ended up killing Alex's mother? Calling it a creature or a monster somehow didn't quite suffice. This thing was a lot more than that. She had felt it when it had tried to kill her.
Maya shivered again, even though she was under the covers in her bed. Alex was sleeping on a blowup mattress next to her, snoring lightly, twisting in his sleep, sometimes moaning.
Maya had to pee. She had felt the desire to for at least two hours but completely ignored it. She didn't dare to go to the bathroom. Not after what she had faced tonight. Not in the darkness at night. She wanted to wait till the morning before going and tried to ignore it, but the sensation grew more and more insistent, especially when she tried to not think about it, and it was keeping her awake.
Think of something else. Think of a meadow. A meadow, a meadow, a meadow.
She pictured it and closed her eyes. There were yellow flowers, there was corn, maybe even a bird and over there…was a small brook, the water running quickly through it. Soon, the sound of running water was trickling inside her head, and her eyes shot open once again, the desire to go to the bathroom screaming inside of her.
Think of Alex kissing you.
She did and closed her eyes again. Alex's lips, Alex's soft eyes, Alex's warmth close to her…in the bathroom, where water was running.
Maya opened her eyes again with a groan. It was no use. She'd have to go to the bathroom even though it scared her senseless. She got up and out of bed, then rushed to the door and into the bathroom where she relieved herself faster than ever before, constantly staring at the shower drain next to her, whimpering because she felt it took too long. Finally, when she was done, she washed her hands quickly and rushed into the hallway, where she ran into her mother. Someone was with her.
"Daniel?" she asked, then smiled. "They found him?"
Her mother nodded. "Well…he came to us. Let's just keep it at that."
"Great, Alex will be very excited to hear this."
Her mother exhaled. "Well…about that. He can't know, I’m afraid."
"What? Why not?"
"It's a long story, honey. I'd love to tell you everything, but can it wait? I need to sleep. Maybe we can talk about it in the morning?"
"Mom…I can't just keep this news from Alex. How am I supposed to do that?"
"You have to," her mother said. "There are people after him. Just trust me on this, will you? It's also what's best for Alex. The less he knows, the better."
Maya sighed, annoyed. She could hear an urgency and sincerity in her mother's voice, and she knew this was important. "Okay. But I need an explanation and soon."
"And I will give it to you. Just…well, just do as I told you…for now. Not even Morten can know he's here, okay?"
Maya shot her mother a glance. "Okay…I guess."
Chapter Sixty-Three
I found a clean sheet and put it on the bed in one of my empty rooms. I was beginning to count myself lucky for having inherited this big old house with so many bedrooms. When I first moved in, I thought I would never have a use for all these bedrooms. But I guess life had different plans.
Daniel sat on the bed. I found a blanket and a pillow for him and sat down next to him.
"You okay?"
He nodded.
I looked down at his hand. It remained completely normal. I still couldn't quite grasp what I had seen earlier, how both he and his mother had changed their bodies. How was it even physically possible? It defied everything I knew. I wasn't surprised that the scientists had kept this a secret or that they wanted to exploit their abilities. In the wrong hands, a soldi
er who could turn himself into liquid and slip in anywhere could become very dangerous. But who sat next to me was no solider. It was just a young boy, a scared young boy who had no idea what was happening to him or how to control it.
"Can I ask you something, Daniel?"
He looked up at me. "Sure."
"What color is your blood?"
He looked down at his hand briefly, then back at me.
"Green."
I nodded with an exhale. "I thought so." I put the pillow in place. "Now, I suggest we get some sleep. It's been quite a day. I, for one, can't wait to get some shut-eye."
Daniel laid himself down. "I'm scared," he whispered. "Of the dark."
I sighed. I couldn't say I was surprised. With all he had been through, I'd bet it wasn't just the dark that scared him.
I sang a song for him, one of those Victor used to want me to sing before bedtime. Before Skye came along. Daniel's eyes were big and wide, staring up at me. After I had stopped singing, I stood in the doorway while Daniel got comfortable. I waited a few seconds till his breathing got heavy before I turned the lights off. I couldn't stop wondering about Victor.
The green blood. The abilities that seemed out of this world. Victor shared those things. Did that mean he was one of them too? But how was that even possible? I had given birth to him. He didn't come from some other world. I knew he didn't.
“I don't think he even is your son.”
That was what Samuel had told me. He had wanted my son because of his blood. I had never felt like Victor belonged here in this world and I still didn't. But he was my son.
Wasn't he?
I never finished the thought—awful as it was—but closed the door to the bedroom and wandered into my bedroom, where Morten was snoring loudly. I got under the covers and closed my eyes, but sleep didn't come at first. Instead, I lay awake for a few minutes, wondering how I was supposed to fall asleep with that noise. Yet a few minutes later, I did.